Book Marketing Advice and Tips | Self-Publishing Review

Can Giving Away a Free Ebook Help Sell More Books?

When I e-published my first novel, a high fantasy adventure called The Emperor’s Edge, I spent the first couple weeks posting about it everywhere. Message boards, Facebook, Twitter, etc. etc. etc. I even contemplated getting a custom CafePress t-shirt that I could wear at the gym (the natural place where high fantasy lovers hang out, of course). My efforts weren’t totally in vein, and I did sell a few copies this way, but I realized this was a tough way to make a dollar.

I decided to try a couple new tactics: advertising (which I’ve blogged about here before[…]

Lindsay2020-02-21T03:57:49+02:00March 31st, 2011|Categories: Features|Tags: Book Marketing Advice and Tips|

Self-publishing and social networking

The main advantage of self-publishing for me is that as the author, I have full control over the content, design, and marketing of my book. I also decide when it goes to press and I retain all the publication and subsidiary rights. Thus, I was free to penetrate a niche market in foreign romance, which a commercial publisher would have ignored. I also believe that my book had a greater chance of success because I was very committed to promoting it, more than say, a publisher who has hundreds of other titles.

In terms of sales, A Heart to Mend […]

Myne Whitman2020-02-21T03:58:11+02:00February 21st, 2011|Categories: Features, Resources|Tags: Book Marketing Advice and Tips|

Promoting Your Ebook with Online Advertising: Four Options

We can talk all day about the importance of good writing/editing, good cover art, and good blurbs when it comes to selling ebooks, but obscurity is the toughest thing for us to overcome. Whether you’ve written a thrilling science fiction adventure or a manual on dog training, nobody is going to line up to buy it if they don’t know it exists.

Advertising is one way to create awareness of your ebooks.

Advertising can be hit or miss, though, and many authors end up spending more money on the ads than they recoup in royalties. Two decent places I’ve found […]

Lindsay2020-02-21T04:36:17+02:00February 15th, 2011|Categories: Resources|Tags: Book Marketing Advice and Tips, Goodreads Articles|

Sell Your Book – Get a Book Widget

Now that your book is published, you want to use every means to promote and sell it. A book widget is a compact and convenient visual to add to your web site/blog and e-mail signature line that attracts viewers to explore and buy your book.

•Amazon (carousel widget)

•BookLoverQuotes

•GoodReads

•Google Books (Embeddable)

•GuruLib

•HarperCollins Browse Inside

•JacketFlap

•LibraryThing

•New York Times Book Review Widget

•Random House Book Widgets

•ShareBookBox

•Shelfari

* This post has now been updated to remove outdated links* – Editor, Oct 2014[…]

Patricia Benesh2020-02-21T03:58:19+02:00December 6th, 2010|Categories: Resources|Tags: Book Marketing Advice and Tips|

Is there a point of critical mass in marketing a book when it begins to sell itself?

At the beginning of September I made a pledge to myself to cut back on marketing, step up my writing, and see what effect this had on my sales. So how did I do?

Well, I wasn’t completely successful in terms of writing. A trip, a cold, several sets of papers to grade became useful excuses not to write, but I did write 2,000 more words, and have 5 chapters of “Uneasy Spirits,” my sequel to Maids of Misfortune, completed. More importantly, I am much more engaged in the process of writing. For those of you who have read […]

Mary Lou Locke2019-02-03T09:04:12+02:00October 26th, 2010|Categories: Features|Tags: Book Marketing Advice and Tips, Book Promotion Articles|

Want Reader Feedback? Page99.com

I often speak of my book buying habits here on the site, specifically when they pertain to whether or not I accept or decline a book for review. I am not a first page “hook” kind of person. The first page, to me, is the most overly orchestrated page in a book these days and is not generally representative of the overall quality of a book, so when I am sampling, I skip the first page; hell, I skip the first chapter. What I want is a random sampling of the writing. I don’t want plot; I don’t want to […]

Cheryl Anne Gardner2020-02-21T03:58:46+02:00September 28th, 2010|Categories: Resources|Tags: Book Marketing Advice and Tips|

A Brief History of My Five Years of Selling Ebooks

When I started publishing my writing, I did not plan on becoming an ebook seller. I was focused on how to get my books printed, set up a website, and list them in Amazon. Then I noticed an option on a menu in Adobe InDesign. I used that software to design my books, but it also had a choice that said “make ebook”. This produced a PDF file with a resolution suitable for screen viewing and a clickable table of contents.

I remember looking at the “make ebook” option and thinking, “Who would want an ebook?” I then recalled a […]

Tracy Falbe2020-02-21T07:49:00+02:00September 15th, 2010|Categories: Features|Tags: Book Marketing Advice and Tips|

The Long Road to Publishing Success… Begins Now

I recently self-published a new children’s book, “Ug Goes Out,” which you can read more about at http://uggoesout.blogspot.com.

So far I’ve spent $129 and have made a net profit of $11, mostly after selling books to friends, family, and coworkers. In this post I will explain my early marketing strategy, its successes and shortcomings so far, and my visions for its future.

1. Bookmarks

I am a middle school English teacher, and the neat thing about my job is that I have a captive focus group who can critique my work and maybe learn something in the process. After […]

Eric Brinker2020-02-21T03:59:41+02:00July 7th, 2010|Categories: Member Blog|Tags: Book Marketing Advice and Tips|